


Make life colourful again

by Mystrothedefender



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-25 08:54:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15637392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mystrothedefender/pseuds/Mystrothedefender
Summary: In a world where you see in black and white until you meet your soulmate, Jack hasn't seen in colour since the death of his first wife, until he meets Bruce Wayne.





	Make life colourful again

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this ages ago and only just stumbled back upon it, I'd be up to write more if I get a good response.

Jack’s life was perfect, or near enough.

Indeed there were some bad aspects; He was woken by a screaming baby 3 times per night, his wife would be irritable and snappy during the day from the lack of sleep, as would he. He wasn’t too fond of his job either, he’d never imagined himself as a pencil pusher but the arrival of their little ‘Angel’ James had forced him to take the first job he came across.

It was similar to how things had been with Jeanie. Any thought of that caused a pang of pain and guilt to rush through him, so he tried not to think about it. He saved all that up for his therapy sessions, provided by Harleen - free of charge of course.

As good as their life was there was one thing that always played on Jack’s mind: Harleen, as much as he loved her, as perfect as their life together was, she wasn’t ‘the one’.

You only get one ‘the one’.

Jack’s had been Jeanie.

He’d never told Harleen.

When they’d been together their skin glowed, the world exploded into colour. Losing that, losing her, had been unbearable.

He remembered the day he met Harleen. Shortly after Jeanie had died Jack suffered a mental breakdown, he’d served a short court mandated stay in Arkham’s low security ward, Harleen happened to walk through the front door at the same time that Jack was dragged in.

Harleen had talked about their first meeting multiple times, it was a go to at parties, Jack was drugged and delirious, throwing himself at whoever caught his eye.

“I’ll piss on your grave!” he had yelled at Harleen upon seeing her, a look in his eyes akin to glee, laughing in an odd tone that seemed so desperate.

Harleen had been quite taken aback, of course.

‘I thought it was a shame’ she said when recounting the story, ‘that someone as handsome as him would be so rude.’

Their second meeting was more civil.

Jack approached her in the rec room as she observed the patients, timid and mousey as usual.

In a voice almost a whisper he had apologised to her, he could remember doing everything he did but it wasn’t really him, it was like he’d snapped, the memory of it was like the memory of a film. She’d smiled at him and accepted his apology.

‘But you better find a way to make it up to me.’

It’d been almost 4 years since then. Now they were married with a young boy.

Life was almost perfect.

But he wished he could see his skin glow again.

.

Jack pulled himself out of bed and dressed himself in front of the mirror, his chest throbbing as it always did at the sight of his dull appearance. He smiled as he left the room, hearing Harleen and AJ in the kitchen.

“Please little Angel, stop crying already, it’s been hours.”

Jack stopped at the door, watching them with a sleepy smile on his face, “How are my two favourite kids?”

Harleen huffed, frowning, “We’re both tired. I can’t stop him crying,” she said, a desperate tone to her voice, “Help me out puddin’? He’s your kid too y’know.”

Jack nodded and outstretched his arms, he took the 9 month old from her and began to bounce him in his arms, pulling funny faces in an attempt to cheer him up.

Within a minute the child’s cried stopped, fading into the sweet babbling of a happy baby.

Harleen huffed softly, turning to make her and Jack’s breakfast, “I don’t get it! I do that and it makes him worse.”

“I think he likes my teeth,” Jack said, flashing her a toothy grin.

“Yeah? Well he’s the only one,” Harleen replied, placing two plates of low fat scrambled egg on whole wheat toast on the table.

Jack glanced at the food, letting out a soft sigh as he moved to sit down. He missed having cereal. He and Harleen had agreed to eat more healthily after AJ’s birth, or more he had suggested it and she’d taken him seriously.

Hopefully she’d eventually get bored of it herself and they’d revert to lucky charms and honey nut cheerios.

“Hey,” he said to her quietly as they ate, baby AJ still in his arms. “I’ve got an hour before work, why don’t I take care of the brat and you have a nap?”

Harleen’s face softened a little, “Are you sure?” she asked, suddenly filled with excitement.

“Yeah sure, you’ve been up since what? 5 am?”

She smiled widely, leaning over the small table to kiss his forehead, “Thanks. I feel like I haven’t slept in a week…”

Jack chuckled softly, “Go on, you get your beauty sleep. You let me sleep in, It’d be rude if I didn’t return the favour.”

He watched her shovel the last of her food into her mouth and toddle off towards the bedroom.

Before AJ was born they might take this spare time to be together as man and wife, but that was parenthood, or so he’d been told.

No sleep and no sex.

It was funny, he thought to himself, their child was nicknamed ‘Angel’ but he was the worst baby ever. He’d wake multiple times in the night no matter what they did, if you didn’t pay attention to him he’d scream nonstop. He was nicknamed ‘Angel’ but he was a little devil.

He took after Jack so much. He had the same features and hair type. He was a beautiful little thing.

Jack could watch him sleep for days and it’d feel like no time had passed.

He settled on the sofa after finishing his food and turned on the tv. His eyes darting between the morning news and the baby in his arms.

It seemed that two-faced guy had caused some havoc again and Batman, ever valiant, had taken him down yet again.

Jack couldn’t help but smile at it, it seemed quite funny really, from the outside they both seemed as bad as each other, they both caused property damage, both harmed people. If Batman was after anything but Two-face he’d be hunted down too.

Before Jack knew it almost an hour had passed, AJ was now asleep in his arms, all he needed to do was brush his teeth and he’d be ready for his work day.

After working at Wayne enterprises for a little under a year he finally had a meeting with the boss, Bruce Wayne himself. Of course he’d seen the boss before in video conferences and on tv but he’d not met him in person.

He climbed the stairs to the master bedroom and knocked softly on the door, “Harleen, sweetie-pie,” he cooed as he entered, “I’ve got a gift for you.”

Harleen groaned softly and rolled in the bed, “That gift better not’ve left me a gift.”

Jack shook his head, “No he’s clean. Do you really think I’d be mean enough to do that?”

“Uh? Yes? You’ve done it before.” She sat up in the bed and held out her hands to take the baby.

Jack chuckled, flashing a toothy grin, “I have never done such a thing in my life Harleen, I have more class than that.”

Harleen scoffed, “Sure you do…” She took AJ and waved a hand at Jack, “Go on then, you don’t wanna be late for Brucie.”

“Mr Wayne,” Jack corrected, “If I called him Brucie I’d get fired on the spot.”

“Good!” Harleen smiled, “Then you could look after AJ and I could get some more sleep.”

Jack chuckled, “Hey don’t you call my bluff,” he waggled a finger at her, “You know if you push me I’ll do it, and if I come home with no job we’ll both be screwed.”

“Go then.”

.

Usually Jack smiled all the way to work, he smiled as he brushed his teeth, he smiled as he kissed Harleen and AJ goodbye, he smiled as he began playing his favourite song. He continued smiling as he hit traffic.

‘Accident: delay 25 minutes’

Seeing the sign stopped him smiling.

He let out a hollow chuckle and began tapping his hands on the wheel. He didn’t have time for this… He couldn’t be late to meet Bruce Wayne, he just couldn’t.

There were no shortcuts he could take to avoid a delay.

… He’d just have to own it. He was sure the rest of his team could handle 10 minutes without him.

He sent a text to his workmate and let out a sigh, the smile coming back to his face as he skipped to another song he liked.

It would be ok, he’d just slip in, most likely no one would even notice.

The minutes crawled past as slow as his car did. He could see his workplace approaching.

Maybe it’d be faster to ditch the car and walk?

No, no, that was a bad idea.

Just a few more minutes…

Finally he parked up. 40 minutes late. He jumped out of the car and sprinted towards the building, he used to be so athletic, he wished he hadn’t let himself go so much.

Finally, panting, he entered the lab, gasping for breath. He should have taken his time and strolled in… hindsight is 20/20.

“Finally,” a familiar voice said from the corner of the room. Bruce Wayne.

Jack straightened himself a little, smiling in hello, still panting too loudly to speak.

Bruce Wayne stood on the other side of the room, an attractive hulk of a man, smiling back politely.

“You must be Jack,” Bruce said, walking towards him with long strides, “Your colleagues have told me all about you.”

The man held out his hand.

Jack stared at it a moment before reaching out to shake.

The moment their hands touched something happened…

Jack felt a warmth spread through him, a warmth he’d felt before.

He looked down at his hand.

It was glowing. The pale skin brighter than he’d ever seen it.

He looked back up at Bruce.

Could he see it too?

Judging by the look of shock on the man’s face he’d say so.

“Bruce,” Jack said breathlessly, staring at him.

Bruce pulled back his hand, clutching it to himself for a moment. He continued looking Jack up and down.

“Uh…” The man was stuttering, obviously shocked, as was Jack.

Was this the first time Bruce had seen it..?

Jack felt a twisting pain in his stomach, he wanted to cry, he didn’t understand.

“I have to go,” he said, his voice a whisper.

He turned and ran, shutting himself in the mens’ room.

His heart was racing, tears pooling in his eyes.

This was wrong.

You only get one ‘the one’. And he’d already had his. He’d made peace with that. He’d moved on with his life. He couldn’t handle this. He was happy. He loved Harleen. Their life was perfect.

His breath hitched and he began to sob, the realisation of what had happened filling him, he felt like he was going to throw up.

His memories of Jeanie swarmed to the front of his mind. That warm feeling he’d felt, he’d missed it for so long.

He sank to the floor, holding his hands to his face, he felt so ill…

He wished he was back at home, in bed with Harleen.

He tried to calm himself using the methods Harleen had taught him. He had anxiety attacks sometimes, though they’d gotten rarer in the past few years.

Control your breathing.

Ground yourself.

It seemed to be working.

He’d have to go home though, there was no way he could stay after this, not today.

He’d make up for the missed work by doing overtime on the weekend.

He couldn’t handle this.

.

Leaving the building proved harder than he thought, not physically, that was as easy as signing your name. Mentally though? Jack couldn’t stop thinking…

If he left now…

What if people guessed? Jack could be a skittish person sometimes, he had practically no impulse control, but he never left work without being ill. They needed the money.

A panic attack counted as being ill didn’t it?

But he couldn’t tell them that.

What if someone caught on?

He knew a few people in his office had met ‘the one’, some of them had seen him interacting with Bruce, it might not be hard to guess.

And what about when he got home?

Harleen would ask why he was home so early.

Jack closed his eyes, banging his head against the wall.

No.

He couldn’t go home.

He was too shaken, he couldn’t deal with the questions and the crying baby.

He’d go to the park, have something to eat, enjoy some solitude.

That sounded good.

Slowly he got to his feet, breathing slowly.

He walked to sign out, looking around constantly to check if anyone he knew could see him.

Today was supposed to be such a good day, why did this have to happen?

He was so tired.


End file.
